A district judge ruled Tuesday that a videotaped confession and written statement by one of 20 males accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old Cleveland girl is admissible in an upcoming trial.

Judge Mark Morefield, of the 75th state District Court, will allow jurors to view the videotape of Eric Bernard “Clyde” McGowen and read his statement.

Morefield said McGowen’s statements were “knowingly, willingly and voluntarily given,” and therefore were admissible in court. The judge also gave preliminary approval to the prosecution’s use of a videotape allegedly showing the males committing sex acts with the girl.

Opening statements in McGowen’s trial will be made Wednesday morning.

Four hundred people were summoned for jury duty for the case, but only 100 appeared. Some of them admitted they knew the defendant and asked to be removed from the panel.

McGowen is the first of the 11 remaining adult males to stand trial for the charges. Seven juveniles and two adults — Marcus Porchia and Isaiah Ross — accepted plea agreements in exchange for admissions of guilt and an agreement to testify against other defendants.

McGowen’s criminal defense attorney, Matthew Poston, argued that his client’s statements to Cleveland Police Department detectives were coerced by Chad Langdon and Charles “Eddie” Mathews, who were detectives at the department at the time.

Langdon, who is now a Liberty County Precinct 2 deputy constable, was on the witness stand for the nearly two-hour-long playing of the video for the court during the pretrial session Tuesday.

In the video, McGowen initially denied any participation in the alleged sexual assault. But after more than an hour of questioning, he finally admitted to Mathews that he had received oral sex from the girl but had not engaged in sexual intercourse. McGowen was 19 at the time.

“She is a prostitute,” McGowen said. “She’s a ho and lies about her age. First, I heard she was 17. Then I heard she was 16.” But in other parts of the videotaped interview, McGowen said he knew she was “too young.”

He said that in September 2010, he saw her having sex with another male in Campbell Park. Two months later, on Nov. 28, McGowen said he arrived at the North Travis Street home of Tim Ellis, another defendant, and found him having sex with her.

Under questioning by the detectives, McGowen admitted his cell phone was used by Tim Ellis on Nov. 28, 2010 to make contact with the girl; however, the details are still sketchy regarding who actually picked her up from her family’s home in Trails End Subdivision, about five miles west of Cleveland, and brought her to the Cleveland neighborhood known as Precinct 20.

On Nov. 28, nine of the 20 males ultimately charged are alleged to have engaged in sexual acts with the girl during a 12-hour period spanning from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m., McGowen said he was “late” arriving at Ellis’ house, which suggests that the gathering had been arranged.

When Ellis’ aunt arrived home unexpectedly, the nine males and the 11-year-old girl allegedly climbed out a back window and ran to a nearby abandoned mobile home on Ross Avenue, where all of the males took turns with her, McGowen said.

According to McGowen’s videotaped statement, two of the males were the first to have sex with her at the Ross Avenue home. However, McGowen admitted that he was unable to see what was going on in the room.

After 45 minutes, the door opened and the remaining males crowded into the room to have turns with her, he said.

Following the showing of McGowen’s videotaped interview with the Cleveland Police Department, Morefield cleared the court to show the video of the alleged sex acts that took place on Nov. 28 in the Ross Avenue trailer home.

Porchia, who has been held at the Liberty County jail since making his plea bargain, was brought in to identify several other defendants who were reportedly heard or seen in the cell phone video.